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[Whole Number 417 
UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

REPRINT OF CHAPTER FROM REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 

For 1909 



Chapter XI 



Schools for Crippled Children 

Abroad 



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WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



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7 1910 






CHAPTER XI. 
SCHOOLS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN ABROAD. 

By Evelyn May Goldsmith, 

President of Association of Public School Teachers of Crippled Children in the City of 

Neic York. 

In no department of education in Europe has greater progress been 
made during the last twenty-five years than in that which has to do 
with the physical, mental, and moral training of crippled children. 

The greatest advance in the education of the deformed in connec- 
tion with the regular system of public schools is to be seen in Great 
Britain, especially in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, 
where many public schools of a special character have been established 
for crippled children. 

The greatest advance in trade schools for adults where crippled 
men and women are taught to earn their own living is found in 
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Here workshops have been estab- 
lished for over forty years, and within most recent times have been 
greatly enlarged and extended. These schools, which are in reality 
homes, are supported by grants from the Government and private 
donations, and while doing most effective work are often handi- 
capped by need of funds. 

DENMARK. 

The mother school was first started in Copenhagen in 1872, and is 
still the only one in Denmark. From this many in other countries 
have been patterned. Large additions are now in process of con- 
struction, and in a year it will become an ideal educational center 
for the disabled of Denmark. In this school many trades are well 
developed, the aim of which is to fit the pupils to go out into the 
world and take positions that will render them self-supporting. 

An attempt is being made to help the pupils to " learn to do things 
that pay," or, according to Miss Peterson, the head of the school, to 
teach them " to do their own living." 

The institution has five divisions, namely : 

I. Clinic, where patients are treated and bandages, wooden legs^ 
special corsets, boots, etc., are supplied. These are made, at the 
order of the doctors in attendance, by the pupils in the workshops, 

503 



504 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

some of whom have become teachers and are now holding positions 
in other institutions. 

II. Workrooms, (a) where bandagemaking, moldmaking, corset- 
making, saddlery, forging, and shoemaking are taught, the articles 
made being for the use of the cripples. Here are numbers of pupils 
without hands, wearing appliances which enable them to hold a tool 
and steady the material worked upon; (b) school of handicraft and 
manual work, consisting of wood carving, bookbinding, brushmaking, 
joinery, dressmaking, weaving, needlework, housekeeping, cooking, 
and office work. The age of the pupils varies from 14 to 26. 

III. A home, where pupils from the country live during ap- 
prenticeship. Dinner is supplied to children from the city as well as 
those in residence. All the furniture of this home is made by the 
children, and is of most careful and exquisite workmanship. 

IV. ChilcPs school, where the rudimentary branches are taught. 
In addition, emphasis is laid upon the musical training, the singing 
being unusually fine. 

V. Recreation home, at the seaside, for the most diseased patients, 
accommodating 44. 

SWEDEN. 

In Sweden industrial schools for adult cripples were established at 
Gothenburg and Karlskrona in 1885, at Helsingborg in 1887, and in 
Stockholm in 1892. In the city of Stockholm, though great care is 
taken of the health of children going to the public schools, yet their 
doors are not thrown open to crippled children. Special teachers are 
supplied by the public schools to teach these latter in their homes 
after school hours. A most careful supervision is exercised over the 
physical condition of the public-school pupils. If defects are ob- 
served, the teacher sends the child to the royal gymnasium, where 
curative gymnasium treatment is given free of charge to the poor. 
Though not having public schools for the crippled, Stockholm has 
two industrial schools for these unfortunates, supported solely by 
private contributions — one, the Society in Aid of the Deformed and 
Infirm, caring especially for adults, enabling them to provide for 
themselves as far as possible, and the other, the Eugenia Hemmet's, 
admitting both adults and children. The Society for the Deformed 
and Infirm admits pupils ranging in age from 9 to 57. In both 
institutions instruction is given free of cost, and the poorest pupils 
dine every day at the expense of the school. As soon as the work of 
the pupil is salable the school gives him payment for it. 

Most remarkable is the dexterity attained by persons who have only 
one normal hand but two vigorous legs. Of such persons, a woman 
working at a sewing machine and a man at a turning lathe are able 
to gain as great dexterity and, when their apprenticeship is ended, to 



SCHOOLS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN ABROAD. 505 

earn as much money as bodily normal workers. A great variety is 
to be found in the objects made. Brushes of various kinds and fur- 
niture, such as tables, desks, chairs, etc., are made in large quantities. 
In the bookbinding division orders are taken for the binding of books, 
and in the shoe shop for the making of new shoes and the mending of 
old. In the girls' sewing room are made embroidered pillows, etc., 
and hand-woven towels, while machine work is done in dressmaking 
and knitting. 

The Eugenia Hemmet's is one of the most ideal schools in the 
matter of situation and equipment in Europe. The rooms are most 
artistically decorated. Plants are everywhere in bloom, birds sing 
in cages, and beautiful pictures adorn the walls; when possible, the 
furniture in the class rooms is painted white. 

The enrollment is 190. It is a noteworthy fact that no cripples are 
seen on the streets. 

This community is divided into families, two or three nurses 
looking after each family. In this school the chief stress is laid 
upon giving to the pupil a good general education, rather than a 
training in the trades. One hundred of the children are divided 
into five classes, where they are instructed especially in English and 
arithmetic. In special Class I a girl with only a thumb writes 
beautifully. In Class II a boy of 15 has no legs, but does his work 
enthusiastically. A number of the children are in beds in the class 
room. In the kindergarten is a child 4 years old, born without arms, 
who can sew, paint, and cut as easily and correctly as a normal child. 
A band composed of 8 boys who have a teacher twice a week plays, 
leaning on crutches while they play. 

The remaining 90 children are placed in different shops. In the 
tailor shops the clothing for the whole school is made, every child 
receiving two suits a year, one of them at Christmas time. Orders 
are taken for the knitting of stockings for the soldiers. 

NORWAY. 

Sophie's Minde, the large school for cripples in Norway, is in 
Christiania, situated on a hill overlooking the city. This school 
stands especially for manual training and shows that the most help- 
less cripples are capable of the finest handicraft. One girl lying in 
a wheeled bed works with her paralyzed hand and mouth in making 
lace with colored pins on a cushion. Another, who has lost her arms 
by amputation, makes a variety of exquisite laces, using her teeth 
alone, throwing the bobbins from side to side and occasionally with 
her teeth picking up an instrument to tighten the pattern when 
necessary. A man without fingers uses instruments in the palms of 
his hands, and carves most intricate designs in furniture. 



506 EDUCATION BEPOBT, 1909. 

GKEAT BRITAIN. 

In Great Britain the schools for crippled children are a recognized 
part of the system of public instruction. 

These schools, it is important to note, are in buildings of their 
own, and are equipped with furniture and appliances especially 
adapted to the needs of the crippled child. A piano is in each room. 
Each school has an ambulance or two, constructed especially at great 
expense, to admit children on stretchers and in invalid chairs, and 
all children are conveyed to and from their homes. A nurse or a 
paid attendant accompanies each ambulance. When the ambulance 
arrives the children are given cod liver oil and medicines prescribed 
by their physicians, and at the morning recess crackers and milk. 

The largest number of schools is in London ; upon these the schools 
of other countries have been modeled; Glasgow, Edinburgh, and 
Liverpool are next in the lead. 

Glasgow. — In Glasgow there are four well-developed schools, the 
Freeland, Bridgeton, Finnieston, and Hayfield schools. Here the 
plan is much alike — all in special buildings or old buildings remod- 
eled to fit the needs of these children. The Hayfield school is espe- 
cially ideal; for though it is a separate new building by itself, it is 
considered part of the big Hayfield School for Normal Children, 
which is a model building throughout — built somewhat on the style 
of our New York model buildings. 

A typical time-table of the Glasgow schools is as follows : 

. A. M. 

9.20- 9.55. Religious instruction. 

9.55-10.10. Arithmetic (mental). 
10.10-10.15. Register. 
10.15-10.30. Arithmetic. 

10.30 — 10.45. Cod liver oil and chemical food mixed, milk and crackers. 
10.45-11.00. Geography. 
11.00-12.00. English. 
12.00- 1.00. Dinner and recess. 

P. M. 

1.00- 1.05. Register. 

1.05-2.00. Drawing, needlework, brush work, basketry, games. 

All chairs and reclining sofas are fitted to the children, and thereby 
add to the children's comfort. Here also the aid society assists with 
the dinners. 

Edinburgh. — The especially noticeable feature of the Edinburgh 
schools is the emphasis placed upon the surroundings of the schools. 
The playgrounds and gardens are beautifully arranged. The chil- 
dren have their own garden plats and care for their flowers and 
vegetables. This out-of-door work is considered very essential for 
crippled children. 



SCHOOLS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN ABROAD. 507 

Liverpool. — Next in importance to London as regards schools for 
cripples is Liverpool. The special schools, of which there are six, 
are carried on under the elementary education act of 1899, which 
empowers but does not require local authorities to provide for the 
instruction of physically and mentally defective children — children 
who by reason of mental or physical defect are incapable of receiving 
proper benefit from instruction in ordinary elementary schools, but 
are not incapable by reason of such defect of receiving benefit from 
instruction in special schools. Three of the schools, Dingel Lane, 
Whitefield Road, and Chatham Place, are " double " schools and pro- 
vide for both physically and mentally defective children. Two, 
Frontenoy Street and Orwell Road, provide for mentally defective 
children only, and one, the West Kirby School, for physically defec- 
tive children only. The schools are as follows: 

I. The Whitefield Road School. Here are 102 physically and 55 
mentally defective children. Manual work and the kindergarten are 
well developed. A midday meal is provided for each child, and the 
children are conveyed to and from school in ambulances, especially 
constructed at a cost of $460 each. The premises are new and con- 
venient, having been especially erected for the purpose. Here chil- 
dren are taken from 5 to 16 years of age. All classes are termed 
special classes. In this school much hand work of careful design is 
accomplished. In embroidery and work chipping the children draw 
their own designs. Water colors and stains are used on various white 
work, and marquetery work is much done on white wood — tables, 
frames, etc., being most popular. Hand machines are used in the 
making of clothing. Cookery and household work are studied, and 
shoe making and mending are made much of. Vocal 'music is a 
strong feature. The windows in this new building are arranged to 
drop entirely out of sight, as in a carriage, so as to admit much fresh 
air to the room. As Miss Williams, the head mistress, said, " More 
essential than medicine is fresh air." 

II. The Dingle Lane School registers 101 physically and 104 men- 
tally defective children. Here again the manual training depart- 
ment and the kindergarten are noted as well developed. 

III. The Chatham Place School, the largest of all, is composed 
of three dwelling houses converted into a special school — the cripples 
occupying the first floor and the mental defectives the floor above. 
A great point is made of nature study and gardening in this school. 
Children are taken between the ages of 5 and 16 and are divided 
into seven classes. All classes are called special classes from the 
lowest, Special A, up. Many original designs in basketry are worked 
out here, and again much chip work. The head mistress, Miss James, 
feels that toy making has a big future for the crippled child. Milli- 



508 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

nery, also paper flowers and plasticine, a kind of clay work, are 
taught with good results. 

IV. A small school at West Kirby for physically defective chil- 
dren, carried on by an educational committee in connection with the 
children's convalescent home, enrolls 33 pupils. The aid society 
pays half the price of the appliances, crutches, braces, etc., needed 
for the children. 

London. — In London is found provision for the instruction and 
physical improvement of crippled children which is far in advance 
of that of any other country, and from that city New York has 
most to learn. For there overcrowded conditions are much as we 
find them in New York, with the inevitable accompaniment of 
physically and mentally defective children. In London both are 
taken care of, but the mentally and the physically defective are 
housed separately. 

In 1886 there was formed an Invalid Children's Aid Society which 
made many experiments. Then Mrs. Humphrey Ward became in- 
terested and induced the London school board to take up a scheme 
in 1898 which she had worked out at the Passmore Edwards Settle- 
ment in Farvistock place. She had obtained the use of some good 
ground-floor rooms leading out into a beautiful garden with a nurse 
to superintend, and generously presented an ambulance to convey 
the 25 children to and from the settlement. As this was very suc- 
cessful, the board promptly put through a plan in February, 1899, 
providing the teacher and school furniture. Thus the first " Invalid 
Center," as it is called, was established. Since then, 23 centers, with 
over 1,880 children on the rolls, have been formed. Mrs. Ward's 
school has been the model upon which the other centers have been 
planned. 

An india-rubber-tired ambulance, fitted with seats or with benches 
for the children brought on stretchers, starts on its round at 8.30. 
It is in charge of a nurse or a paid helper and the children are de- 
posited at the school at 10 o'clock. This nurse superintends the 
children in the stage, examines them when ill, gives medicine pre- 
scribed by the doctors, gets on friendly terms with the mothers, and 
forms a valuable link between the home and the hospital. In addi- 
tion, she orders the dinners and superintends the meal and recrea- 
tion time, giving the teachers an hour and a half rest. 

In making her experiment Mrs. Ward saw that no school could be 
successfully carried on without a hot midday meal for the pupils, 
and she organized the Crippled Children's Dinner Society to pro- 
vide a hot dinner daily. A good hot dinner of meat, vegetables, 
bread, and pudding is provided for 2d. Sometimes this is varied 
by potato pie or vegetable soup, as the nurse thinks fit. The board 



SCHOOLS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN ABROAD. 509 

furnishes the kitchen, firing, and cook. The cook is responsible to 
the head teacher for the proper performance of her duties. 

The dinners are under the care of the above-mentioned society, one 
representative manager being elected from each school. The man- 
agers meet monthly (I was fortunate enough to attend one meeting), 
accounts and menus are examined, and every case of inability to pay 
2d. is carefully sifted. Free dinners are given only under excep- 
tional circumstances, and it is a noteworthy fact that in the report 
of 1907 it is stated that only 4 per cent of free dinners were given, 
although these children come from the lowest and poorest slums of 
London. 

The after training of these children is under the care of the same 
society that controls the dinners. As the child nears 16 (which is 
the special school age for leaving) his achievements are carefully 
noted and brought before the committee, and work suited as far as 
possible to the requirements of the particular child is found. 

To these centers are sent children suffering from heart disease, 
paralysis, or overtaxed brains and nerves who can not stand the 
bustle of a large school. Occasionally children with very defective 
eyesight are admitted who are not blind enough to be taught in the 
" blind center." 

These invalids' centers are under the care of Mrs. Burgwin, super- 
visor; Doctor Eichholz, medical inspector, and Dr. R. C. Elmslie, 
assistant medical inspector, whose work is practically indispensable. 
Doctor Elmslie has special record cards, and is making a great study 
of the problems encountered in the education of crippled children. 
I saw him examine the children of a school. 

The head mistress and nurse of each school both keep special 
records as to a child's health. In a recent report Doctor Elmslie 
says : " Schools do not see sufficiently that efficient medical and sur- 
gical treatment is carried out and that the results are satisfactory." 
He estimates that 20 per cent of these children will earn their living 
at a trade later in life, 50 per cent more if work in which they are 
especially skilled can be found, while 30 per cent will be unable to 
support themselves. 

In the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Great Portland street, 
and in the Alexandra Hip Hospital, where hip and special cases are 
admitted for very long periods, classes are formed under teachers of 
the London board schools. Thus these children do not retrograde 
mentally in spite of prolonged hospital treatment, and are fit to take 
their places again in the " special centers " when they are discharged. 

The London board schools go still further, and the " Guild of the 
Brave Poor Things," at Chailey, an invalid craft school founded by 
Mrs. Kimmans, is under the inspection of the board of education. 



510 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

Here wonderful workshops are found. All kinds of furniture and 
toys are made by the boys, while the girls are unexcelled in em- 
broidery and needlework. Much attention is given to athletics, the 
boys playing football, the girls cricket, and both performing on all 
kinds of apparatus. 

The most significant provisions of the rules for the London centers 
are the following: 

Building Rules. 

N. B. — These rules must be read in conjunction with the building regulations for public 
elementary schools. 

I. Schools. — (a) Schools for various types of afflicted children should not be 
held in same building unless structurally separated. 

(o) All rooms for physically defective children must be on the ground floor. 

II. Playgrounds. — Where no field or other large space has been secured, the 
superficial area of the site should provide not less than 30 square feet per 
child of open space exclusive of buildings. There should be a large covered 
shed open on one side, provided with ample top light, which under supervision 
may be used by boys and girls together. 

III. Class rooms. — (a) Not less than 18 square feet of floor space per child 
must be provided. 

( & ) No class room should contain less than 360 square feet of floor space. 

(c) The light should be ample and such as suits the mode of teaching 
employed. 

(d) Accommodation should be arranged for medical inspection. 

Curriculum. 

The instruction should generally resemble that given in ordinary public 
elementary schools. 

Special schools for defective children should include the following subjects: 

The English language, including speaking with clear articulation and enuncia- 
tion, reading, writing, and recitation. 

Composition, study of literary matter, history, and geography. 

Arithmetic, including mental arithmetic and practical knowledge of money, 
weights, and measures. 

Knowledge of common things, including nature study and observation lessons. 

Drawing. 

Singing (including training in proper breathing). 

Plain needlework (for girls). 

Not less than six hours of manual instruction must be given weekly to each 
child. The forms of manual instruction must be chosen with a view of training 
manual and mental powers and of fitting the child to earn a living. Care must 
be taken to avoid the use of dangerous tools. 

Teachers — Qualifications. 

Head teachers, when there are more than 10 children on the roll, must be 
certified under Schedule I of the Code, or hold the higher certificate of the 
National Froebel Union. 

No teacher will be recognized as a head teacher unless he or she has had some 
experience in a certified school for cripples. 

Assistant teachers must be either certificated or uncertificated teachers, or 
must hold the higher or elementary certificate of the National Froebel Union. 

Pupil teachers are not recognized as part of the staff. 



SCHOOLS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN ABROAD. 511 

It is further prescribed that " the number of children in average 
attendance should not exceed 20 for each class." 

In conclusion, it must be admitted that the expense of maintaining 
schools for cripples is heavy, but the care of the disabled child is 
eminently worth the while. 

Modern discoveries in surgery keep alive children who could hardly 
have survived their first decade a generation ago. Tubercular ab- 
scesses are opened, diseased bones are removed, and the result is that 
the child leaves the hospital cured in the eyes of the surgeon, but a 
maimed and battered creature in the eyes of its fellows. If the State 
is not going to provide an education for these children it is nurturing 
a whole army of prospective paupers. It is better to care for the 
individual during the comparatively short period of childhood rather 
than during the longer period of adult life. The State, if its own 
advantage be considered, has no option but to provide for the crippled 
child and give him, at any rate, a chance of leading an independent 
life. 



NOTE ON THE EDUCATION OF CRIPPLED CHILDREN IN NEW YORK CITY. 

One of the first steps toward the solving of the problem of the education of 
crippled children by the public schools of New York was made in 1906, when 
the board of education joined forces with two private guilds. The guilds had 
paved the way, and it was for the board of education to recognize the system 
and attempt some advance. 

The school equipment and teachers were supplied by the board of education ; 
the buildings, transportation, nourishment, and general public care were looked 
after by the guilds. 

This attempt was found successful and a further advance was made a year 
later, in 1907, when classes for crippled children were added to the regular 
public schools wherever rooms were available. 

At present there are 18 classes for crippled children in the public-school 
system of the city of New York, and more will be added as children are found. 
Children from 5 to 15 are now in attendance, coming at 9, bringing a noonday 
lunch, and returning at 2. The expense of the stage for the transportation of 
these children is borne by the board of education. 

The regularity of attendance, often 100 per cent, and the general progress 
made, both mentally and physically, justify beyond doubt the existence of these 
schools. 



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